The field of the invention is generally that of clamps used for clamping together two or more auxiliary and non-included structural members or the like and normally movable between a closed or clamping position and an open or unclamped position in response to manual operation of an operating handle member. A particularly pertinent prior art type of clamp is a pivoting clamp of a type having several different pivotally-interconnected linkage elements arranged, in accordance with well-known mechanical principles, to move between clamped and unclamped positions and vice versa in response to forcible manual movement of an operating handle member. In one especially pertinent form of prior art clamp of the type just referred to, the operating handle member is arranged in what might be termed an over-center pivoting arrangement relative to the multiple pivotal interconnection points of the multiple linkage elements of the clamp so it will, in effect, be locked when in the clamped position and will be incapable of being accidentally or inadvertently jarred loose or otherwise caused to become unclamped by any forces acting thereon except the proper force applied to the operating handle member in a clamp-opening direction. The particular type of prior art clamp referred to above is widely used, but has a major disadvantage, in that adjacent to the pivotal interconnection of the handle member relative to an outermose one of the linkage elements of the clamps is what might be termed an arcuately-variable-angle junction region which lies immediately adjacent to the inner or lower end of the operating handle member and thus, is quite likely to be at least partially filled or occupied by a part of the little finger edge of a person's hand when the operating handle member is grasped for the purpose of forcibly moving it in a clamp-opening direction. If this occurs, it will be found that the arcuately-variable-angle junction region rapidly closes on the edge of the person's hand, and may severely pinch same, or even cause a severe skin abrasion or flesh wound. This is difficult to avoid, because a considerable amount of manual force is normally applied to the operating handle member to open a locked clamp from the freely clamped relationship, and thus, once it starts to open, it opens rapidly, and the edge of the operating hand is pinched and damaged before the operator knows it.
It is obvious that any modification of such a clamp by the provision of, or cooperation therewith of, any edge-of-hand protective structure would be highly-desirable because it would not, in any way interfere with operation of the clamp, but would completely prevent the possibility of injuring the operator's hand in the manner referred to above, and it is precisely such a highly-desirable and advantageous type of structure that is provided by, and in, the present invention, and which further has advantages virtually completely overcoming the hereinbefore-mentioned prior art problems, disadvantages, and limitations, and all of which advantages flow from, and occur by reason of the specific features of the invention pointed out hereinafter.